Meaning & use
overnight success
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Meanings
nouncountable
Someone or something that becomes very popular or successful in a very short time.
Grammar: Usually used with 'a' or 'an': She became an overnight success. The plural is 'overnight successes'.
Patterns
- become an overnight success
- an overnight success story
- be hailed as an overnight success
After years of small roles, she became an overnight success with one hit film.
The app was an overnight success and had a million users within a week.
The band's first song was an overnight success on social media.
noununcountable
The state of achieving sudden fame or wealth, often used to suggest that such success is rare or misleading.
Grammar: Used without an article when talking about the idea in general: Overnight success is rare.
Patterns
- achieve overnight success
- overnight success is rare
- dream of overnight success
Overnight success is rare; most people work for years before they are noticed.
Many young athletes dream of overnight success but few achieve it.
The idea of overnight success makes people forget the years of practice behind it.
Word forms
| plural | overnight successes |
|---|
Common combinations
- become an overnight success
- The small bakery became an overnight success after a famous chef visited.
- an overnight success story
- His rise from intern to CEO is an overnight success story.
- hail someone as an overnight success
- The media hailed her as an overnight success, ignoring her ten years of training.
- dream of overnight success
- Many young musicians dream of overnight success.
Synonyms and how they differ
- instant hit
- Instant hit is used mostly for products, songs, or shows, while overnight success can also describe a person.
- sensation
- A sensation is someone or something that causes great excitement, often more dramatic than an overnight success.
- meteoric rise
- Meteoric rise describes a very fast climb to success, often in a career, and is more formal.
Opposites
Word family
- overnight adverb
- During or for the night; also used to mean very suddenly.
- success noun
- The achieving of a goal or the gaining of fame and wealth.
- successful adjective
- Achieving what you wanted or becoming popular and rich.
Commonly confused: overnight success or overnight delivery?
overnight success vs overnight delivery
Overnight delivery means a package arrives the next day, not that something becomes successful.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
The phrase is countable, so it needs 'an' before a vowel sound: 'an overnight success'. 'A' is wrong before 'overnight', and no article or 'the' does not fit this general statement.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “overnight success”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.